BACK IN MOTION, FLYERS SKATE TO 5-0 WIN
The Philadelphia Flyers are no different from any other hockey club: They become a much tougher team to play against when players keep their feet moving and pay attention to detail. Good goaltending, of course, is another key component of success.
Last night against the Detroit Red Wings, the Flyers left the Wells Fargo Center with a satisfying 5-0 win that snapped Philly's four-game losing streak and ended a stretch of nine consecutive games of yielding three or more goals.
Steve Mason was outstanding in goal, recording a 34-save shutout that included several spectacular saves. His glove hand was especially sharp in this game, he was on top of his angles and his rebound control was much improved from recent games. In the second half of the third period, the Flyers had a few breakdowns that could have cost Mason the shutout but kept the goose egg on the board for Detroit.
In notching the shutout, Mason also finally had a little bit of puck luck go his way at times. In the second period, a shot ticked off the post. Later, Mason made a second-chance save from flat on his back after an initial outstanding save from point-blank range. In other recent games, none of the bounces were going Mason's way.
Over the team's previous four games, the Flyers had scored a modest eight goals. Philly broke out of the mini-slump with four even-strength goals after a power play tally in the opening period. It was the even-strength goals that had been lacking until last night. Including last night's game, the Flyers are 11-for-48 (22.9 percent) on the man advantage over the last 13 matches.
Nine different Flyers players recorded at least one point in last night's win.
Scott Hartnell notched power play and even strength goals to stake the Flyers to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the game. A few minutes after the Hartnell goal, Adam Hall backhanded home his third goal of the season to open up a comfortable 3-0 advantage. Midway through the third period, Claude Giroux ripped a shot off the glove of Jonas Gustavsson and into the net. Sean Couturier rounded out the scoring with a wraparound goal as Gustavsson took himself out of position.
Hartnell, who is nursing a sore foot and did not practice on Sunday, finished the game with a three-point night (two goals, one assist) as he returned to the top line with Giroux (one goal, two assists) and Jakub Voracek (one assist).
Couturier's goal broke a personal nine-game goalless drought. The team's shutdown defensive center had a regular season career best (two-goal, two assist game) in Detroit the last time the teams played.
What was the big difference between last night's game and the club's recent efforts? Much of it came down to better skating and puck support.
“It was huge. If you don’t skate, you’re not going to win many games," said Voracek. "I think that’s what we were missing the last three games, when we went on that losing streak. We knew what was at stake today, to get back on track before the big road trip. I think all guys were skating and supporting each other. We played pretty good defense and when we had a chance offensively, we scored a goal."
Philly got off to a so-so start in those regards in the early minutes of the first period but got better and better as the game progressed. As the breakouts got better, the Flyers were able to attack with a little more speed and generated forechecking pressure of their own.
“I think we possessed the puck a lot more than the last few games and that’s key for us when we control the puck and play in their end," said Couturier. "That’s when we’re successful and we just have to keep doing that. Keeping it simple, putting pucks deep behind their D, and that’s where we control the game usually.”
The Flyers got hemmed in their own zone in several early first period shifts but, to their credit, kept the Red Wings mostly along the perimeter and blocked a lot of shots. The team has been allowing too many shots on goal of late, both in quantity and quality.
Poor breakouts, failed clearing attempts and panicky decisions with the puck have plagued the Flyers of late. Last night's game was not entirely "clean" from the defensive standpoint, either, but there was significant improvement from recent games. When breakdowns and turnovers happened, Mason erased the mistakes with big saves.
Overall, however, the team defense was better last night. The Flyers blocked 20 shots overall, including nine in the opening period. Moreover, the team generally did a good job of allowing its goaltender to see the shots.
"That had a lot to do with our forwards pushing pressure on them, making sure they were shooting the puck quicker and our defensemen getting in the shooting lanes," said goaltender Mason.
"We’ve been getting away from the simple things that make you a successful hockey club and tonight we got back to a better job of doing those things. ... There are still things we need to clean up in order to be winning on a more consistent basis."
It should be noted that last night's opponent was playing with a severely depleted offensive arsenal: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Stephen Weiss and late scratch Johan Franzén were all out of the lineup. Todd Bertuzzi remained a healthy scratch. Nevertheless, the Flyers did a good job of accomplishing the task at hand; contain the personnel lined up on the other side.
Now the Flyers, who have already been through a pair of six-game road trips since Thanksgiving, face a three-game California road trip that could be their toughest successive road tilts of the season.
Tomorrow night, the Flyers are in Anaheim to play a Ducks team that is 21-2-2 on home ice this season. On Saturday night, Philly is in Los Angeles to play the Kings in a Pacific Standard Time matinee (4 p.m. EST start). The Kings are currently 16-7-3 at home. The trip wraps up in San Jose next Monday against a Sharks team that presently sports a 19-3-3 record on their home ice.
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WEDNESDAY QUICK HITS
* The Flyers will hold a 10 a.m. practice today at the Skate Zone. Practice is likely to be brief, since the club has to depart on a 12:30 p.m. charter flight to California.
* Kimmo Timonen injured a foot blocking a shot last night, limping off the ice. He returned for a couple of brief shifts but missed the final eight minutes of the second period and did not return for the third period. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said the player would be re-evaluated today, while head coach Craig Berube said the player was "fine" and the injury was nothing serious. Timonen is well-known for a pain threshold that is remarkable even by hockey standards. He plays through just about any level of discomfort. As such, the veteran defenseman may have been held out by the team last night for precautionary reasons once the Flyers opened a 3-0 lead.
* The timetable for the return of injured energy line forward Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) has been moved up. Originally projected to be out until after the Olympic break, Rinaldo has been upgraded to day-to-day status. He has been skating with the team at recent practices in a no-contact jersey.
* Erik Gustafsson played an outstanding all-around game last night, reminiscent of his play in the final 10 games of the NHL season last year and his 10 games atop the blueline rotation for the gold-medal winning Swedish team at the 2013 Worlds. Partially due to Timonen's absence and partially as a reward for strong play, Berube doled out 22:52 of ice time to Gustafsson. The defenseman also recorded an assist. Last night's performance is the type that the undersized blueliner needs to stay in the team's lineup.
* Scott Hartnell has scored eight of his 14 goals on the season since the Christmas break. He also has 10 assists in that span.
* The much-maligned of late Nicklas Grossmann had his best game of what has been the worst month of his NHL career. The hulking Swede doled out a half-dozen punishing hits on the boards, blocked a half dozen shots, moved traffic away in front of Steve Mason and took good angles on one-on-one rushes. He kept his passes simple and short-range while logging 19:47 of ice time.
There are still some areas to clean up. Grossmann has been very penalty-prone this month and took two more last night; one that may have saved a goal but also an unnecessary holding penalty that put the team down on a 4-on-3. Although not charged with any giveaways in the game, Grossmann did have a turnover at the offensive blueline in the final minute that required Mason to make one final tough save to preserve his shutout.
* Another much-maligned defensive defenseman is Luke Schenn (pretty much all season in his case). Last night, Schenn turned in one of his best games of the season. He was credited with six hits, including a clean hip check on the boards, and four blocks while not getting himself out of position to end up on the wrong side of the play. He ended up with a plus-three in 20:59 of ice time.
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